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Australia 17 England 20: White knight Wilkinson reigns as it pours

Land of hope and glory. England are the champions of the world. They did it. By the gritted-teeth memory of all the heart-stopping sporting occasions ever played, they did it. It was easily the finest of the World Cup finals, with a biting intensity on the field and around the amphitheatre of Telstra stadium. In terms of drama alone, it will stand tall in English sporting history. England made hard work of it in the sense that they were vastly superior, by as many as 20 points. But they won it only by three points, drop-kicked sensationally by Jonny Wilkinson with only 28 seconds of the second period of extra time left on the clock. This after Australia had come level in the last two minutes. What would have been a practically unwatchable period of golden-point extra time had beckoned and, after that, a ping-pong panto of drop kicks. I